28 April 2013

Annotated Game #92: Subtle Symmetry

The following sixth-round tournament game featured the Symmetrical English, a rare guest at the chessboard at the Class level. Black players rarely know the ideas behind it, but then again White has no real possibilities for tactics early on and many White players are also unlikely to know how to play it properly. What usually happens, as in this game, is that White gets a small positional edge but then lacks the requisite skills to follow up on it in the middlegame and endgame. Learning how to play more subtly as White in these types of positions will be a necessary part of achieving mastery.